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Hebrew gets an update: Can you guess what the new word for ‘avatar’ is?

March 9, 2014

The Academy of the Hebrew Language has approved a slew of new words to add to the revived dialect, adding many words that came from recommendations and complaints by the public.

A committee decided to add about one hundred new words, the majority of which were medical and technological terms.

The committee deciding on the changes took in a number of factors. For example, they said that they changed the Hebrew word for dementia, "shition," because they received many complaints that the word had taken on negative connotation and was offensive.

To find new options, the academy turned to the public for suggestions and announced that the most popular submission was "k’hayon," saying that the advantage of using this word was that it doesn’t take away from the gravity of the situation but also isn’t offensive.

In addition, the word trauma, which doesn’t have a word of its own in Hebrew, will be replaced by the word "hovla" from now on.

Adapting to modern and computer-filled times, the academy updated their outdated list of technological terms, adding computer science and software terms.

The Committee for Information Technology submitted a list to the academy, including words that would replace the often-used English words for much of the lingo in the sci-tech world.

Avatar, a popular internet term used to represent your internet personality, is now deemed "yatzgan" in Hebrew, which is derived from the word "leyatzeg," meaning to represent.

Adding a Hebrew word for malware, short for malicious software, will from now on be called "nazka" derived from the word "nezek," meaning damage.

Teleportation, too, got its own place in the Hebrew language. The fictional term, meaning to move from place to place with the power of the mind, will from now on be "hitatkut."